Firsts...

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Dear family and friends,

Things are going great! I appreciate all of your guys emails! This past week has been a great one! We got Dustin on date for Baptism for October 18th and we were able to find some new investigators. However Betty relapsed again with cigarettes so we weren't able to have a baptism this week. But we are still working with her and providing all the support that we can. 

The highlight of my week was on Saturday night while my companion and I were waling around town and through neighborhoods looking for people to teach. It was around 8:00 when we started talking to two guys outside their house. They had just got back form church and were eager to talk about religion. As we started talking to them it was extremely obvious that they know the Bible very well. So we were able to answer some of their questions and were also able to teach about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Immediately they were interested in learning more. 

So we spent the better part of an hour outside teaching them and answering questions they had. As our discussion came to an end we were able to give them our number and they gave us their address. As soon as we were about to pray with them and get his number the unthinkable happened. And I kid you not. A full on gang fight broke out not 20 yards from where we were. It was complete madness. Andrew, the guy we were teaching, stood up and started yelling at them. than he turned to us and told us he would see us tomorrow and that we should leave. He didn't have to tell us twice. As we were walking back to the car we saw four or five police cars rushing to the scene. Latter we found out that everything was alright and that no one got hurt to badly. And thankfully Andrew was able to get a hold of us yesterday and we have plans to go teach him later tonight.  

This was such a strengthening experience for both me and my companion. I was able to learn that the lord guides us to his elect, Andrew was definitely elect, and that The Lord does in fact prepare his people to receive his Gospel. I also learned that the Devil is also working to hinder the work of the Lord. But if we have faith in Christ and in his Gospel we can have the power to conquer and trump the powers of the Adversary. 

Some thing else that happened was I hit a mile stone in my mission. My first "Bible Bash" It was Sunday night and My companion and I were headed back to our car after tracting. A guy pulled us beside us and told us to meet him in a parking lot. At first we thought it was a miracle. As we started talking to him he told us that he has just prayed to meet someone to talk to. This got us even more excited. but as we continued talking with him we found out he interpreted the Bible very differently and that he though Joseph Smith was a fraud and that the Book of Mormon was a curse....  oh and apparently because we eat pork we won't make it to heaven.... Anyways it was interesting. I just left him with my pure testimony of the gospel and we were on our way. 

This experience taught me that it is not our job to argue with people but it is our job to testify of Christ's Gospel. Weather they want to listen to it or not all of God's children still deserve that opportunity to hear the truth.

The rest of the week was great. we taught several lessons, went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Roanoke, and we most importantly  were able to find the elect and strengthen our testimony. I know that as we study the gospel and listen the the  spirit we can come closer to Christ. And we will in turn be blessed for doing so. 

Love Elder Jarman 

Later that day, we got a picture, letter, and map from his mission president
(Somehow that offsets any concerns about gang fights.)